Narrative and ethics in Paul Ricoeur

10.1163/ej.9789004158559.i-380.10

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Chapter Summary

This chapter lays out the main elements of Ricoeur's theory of narrative and its significance for ethics. First, it traces the development of his thought on narrative from his work on metaphor and symbol. Second, the chapter discusses his notion of emplotment and its implications for narrative ethics. Third, it expounds Ricoeur's concept of narrative identity and its role in forming the ethical identity of the self. Then the chapter focusses on Ricoeur's views on memory and forgetting and their links to narrative, identity, and ethics. Lastly, it explores the nature of First Testament narratives between history and fiction, using Ricoeur's views on the links, differentiations, and interweaving of these two narrative modes.